Islam

Crimean Tatars wary of Russia referendum (via AFP) Victims of Stalin’s mass deportations in 1944, Crimea’s Tatar Muslim minority look warily on next week’s referendum on joining Russia, which could well bring the crisis on the tense peninsula to new heights. At the Great Mosque in Bakhchysaray, near… —- Related video: CNN: “Muslims in […]

Arab Spring

A New Arab Cold War: Saudi Arabia Pressures Qatar on Muslim Brotherhood, American Think Tanks

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Saudi Arabia’s listing of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and the withdrawal of the Saudi, Kuwaiti United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain ambassadors from Qatar signal a big geopolitical realignment in the Middle East. Qatar is the Red Prince of the Middle East. Despite being fabulously wealthy because of its natural […]

Egypt

Will Russell Crowe as Noah help Egypt Separate Religion and State?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Darren Aronofski’s biblical epic “Noah” is already provoking controversy in the Muslim world, and has been preemptively banned in three Gulf states. Biblical figures, such as Abraham, Noah, David, and Jesus, also feature in the Qur’an, which sees sacred history as the serial dispatch by God to humans of messengers who remind […]

Featured

Bill O’Reilly says Muslims will Diss Hillary; but 8 Muslim Countries Chose Female Leaders

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Bill O’Reilly maintains that one downside of having a woman president is that Muslims won’t respect her. For Mr. O’Reilly’s information, here are the women leaders of Muslim-majority countries, most of them freely elected by Muslim publics and all of them respected by the latter: Tansu Çiller, elected prime minister of Turkey, […]

Islam

Israel Parliament debates incursion into Holy Muslim site in Jerusalem

Juan Cole

(Via AFP) Israel police, protesters clash at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque (via AFP) Israeli police clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians Tuesday in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound of Jerusalem’s Old City, ahead of a parliamentary debate on Jewish access to the site, holy to both faiths. Israel captured the Old City from Jordan during… ——- Related video: […]

Islam

Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” video Decried as Blasphemous by Some Muslims

Juan Cole

Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” music video, set in ancient Egypt, has stirred controversy because of a scene where a man is struck down who is wearing a pendant with “God” (Allah) written on it in Arabic. An online petition decries it as blasphemous. Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks points out that in ancient Egypt […]

Iraq

Iraq: Firebrand Muqtada al-Sadr Lambastes PM as Dictator, Looter & Resigns from Politics (Again)

Juan Cole

(By Mustafa Habib, Baghdad) He ended his ten year-long political campaign in a televised speech lasting around 11 minutes. In that speech Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said a number of disturbing things: that current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a dictator, that Iraq’s Parliament is paralyzed and that the country’s judiciary is too politicized. […]

Arab Spring

Racializing Politics: We don’t say “Slav” Democracy troubled in Ukraine, why Talk about “Arab” Failures?

Juan Cole

The troubles that Ukraine is having (and that Russia and the former Yugoslavia also had) in its post-Soviet politics, with a struggle between authoritarianism and democracy and between a Moscow orientation versus a Brussels one, are very similar to the difficulties that have beset many countries of the Arab world in the past few years. […]

censorship

Tens of Thousands on Twitter Drop Turkey’s President over Internet Censorship Law

Juan Cole

(Via AFP) Turkey president loses Twitter followers over web law (via AFP) Turkish President Abdullah Gul has lost tens of thousands of Twitter followers after signing into force a controversial law voted in by parliament that would tighten controls over web use. Gul, a frequent user of social media, lost almost 80,000 followers… —— […]